Toughie 3384

Toughie  No 3384 by Elgar

Hints and Tips by crypticsue

+ – + – + – + – + – + – + – +

BD Rating – Toughie Difficulty ***** – Enjoyment *****

The sort of beautiful sky you only get in the early morning of a very frosty sunny day was the ideal thing to gaze at while muttering the component parts of several clues in another fine Elgar Toughie.

There are linked phrases at the top and bottom and left and right sides of the grid which helped a bit towards this being not quite as tricky as many an Elgar Toughie, unless of course you are the person who has to parse, hint and explain it!

Please let us know what you thought

Across

1a           Taking family out of India, faculty man offering no Option 28 (4,5,2)
WITH KNOBS ON A phrase meaning the same thing as the solution to 28a.  Faculty or intelligence ‘taking’ a synonym for family without (out) the letter represented by India in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, followed by the surname of a fictional character who had no choice (offering no option)

10a         Work at reversing the Telegraph team’s reputation (5)
ODOUR A reversal of a verb meaning to work at, and the way the team at the Telegraph might refer to themselves collectively

11a         A chinwag with street singer (9)
STONECHAT A single thing or person and a slang talk (chinwag) go after the abbreviation for street

12a         Artist withdrew to rear of studio? (3,6)
OFF CAMERA I have been thinking about this clue on and off all morning, including during a trip to Margate to look at an exhibition of (very expensive) Peter Firmin prints.  I did what I should have done in the first place and looked up the  expression meaning withdrew in the BRB, which should be followed by the usual abbreviated artist.

13a         Lead off dog you’ll notice lower value (5)
ASSET Take the ‘lead’ of the dog you’ll notice lower down the grid

14a         Panel up to entering races around island? (6)
TABLET Having the ability to do something (up to) inserted into the races round the Isle of Man

16a         Left potatoes in Taj Mahal office pro tem (8)
PORTALOO The left side of a ship or plane, and the Indian word for potatoes

18a         Figures view potting shed from behind (8)
ELLIPSES A verb meaning to view ‘potting’ a verb meaning to waste or shed, and then reversed (from behind)

20a         Hound prepared to track what’s left of boar so far (6)
BASSET A synonym for prepared goes after (to track) the letter at the left of Boar and an adverb meaning so far

23a         Is getting porter perhaps to secure passageway (5)
AISLE IS (from the clue) inserted into a type of drink of which porter is (perhaps) an example

24a         Attentive to one’s beard, perhaps set for posh dinner? (9)
CHINAWARE Split this posh dinner set 5,4 and, like me, you will probably smile at the idea of being attentive to one’s beard

26a         Mate stops drinking, finally, in fantastic pub (3,6)
GIN PALACE An informal friend (mate) ‘stops’ the final letter of drinkinG, IN (from the clue) and an informal adjective meaning fantastic

27a         Twig the contents of knitted underwear (5)
OSIER The inside letters (contents) of knitted goods (especially underwear)

28a         Quite a few more meet hands-on doctors (3,4,4)
AND THEN SOME An anagram (doctors) of MEET HANDS ON

Down

2d           Foul stuff on Instagram keeps going up (2-3)
IN-OFF A foul in a game of snooker is found hidden in reverse (keeps going up) in stuFF ON Instagram

3d           Vegetation secure in this area (7)
HERBAGE A verb meaning to secure inserted into an adverb meaning in this place (area)

4d           One’s established in one’s territory (6)
NESTER Hidden in the last two words of the clue

5d           1960s dance girl blocks one bishop in error (8)
BOOGALOO A dialect word for a girl replaces (blocks or covers up) the second abbreviation for Bishop in an informal mistake

6d           Exuberantly cavort around East Ham (7)
OVERACT An anagram (exuberantly) of CAVORT into which is inserted (around) the abbreviation for East

7d           Select old woman consumed by pain in toe to have foot injected (3-2-3-5)
TOP-OF-THE-RANGE I wish I could show you my piece of paper with several goes at working out how to parse this clue.  A violent brief pain ‘consumes’ the abbreviation for Old and a pronoun meaning she, woman.  This, along with the abbreviation for foot, is ‘injected’ into TOE (from the clue)

8d           See 15 Down

9d           Cutting-edge picture house generous person has adopted (5-2-3-3)
STATE OF THE ART A picture gallery ‘adopted’ by a kind and generous person

15d/8d Add-on features mysterious isle oddly below Shetlands (5,3,8)
BELLS AND WHISTLES An anagram (mysterious) of ISLE, the odd letters of BeLoW and SHETLANDS

17d         Liking to reverse the order of song-writing? (8)
PENCHANT Reverse the order of a type of chant and a synonym for writing

19d         Give lots of notice new, greener, power is in the ascendancy (7)
PREWARN Reverse (in the ascendancy) the abbreviation for New, a synonym for greener and the symbol for Power

21d         Nonplussed when nutmegged by Crete’s defender (2,1,4)
AT A LOSS Put the man of bronze in Greek mythology from pirates and invaders through the middle (nutmegged) of a conjunction meaning when

22d         No TV after editing, every bit cut (3,3)
RIB EYE Remove (no) TV from EvERY Bit and an anagram (after editing) will give you a cut of meat

25d         Man should carry a cross, it’s generally accepted (5)
AXIOM The abbreviated island in the clue for 14a goes after (should carry in a Down solution) A (from the clue) and a cross-shaped letter